NYC Animal Care and Control Reform

Few months ago, Intro. 655 was passed by the City Council. This bill states that approximately $10 million will be funded to animal shelters in Queens and Bronx for about three years. Money will be used to hire more staff members so that they will be more available to the animals and the public. In return for the funding, Intro. 655 will repeal the 2000 bill which states that each borough must have a full-time animal shelter. This means that Queens and Bronx do not need to build animal shelters. For a moment, this may not seem as an alarming problem until one finds out that there are only three shelters in the Bronx and Queens. Does this bill sound efficient at all?

Three shelters are not enough to hold animals, especially since Queens and Bronx are not small boroughs. Unwanted animals in Queens and Bronx will overcrowd adoption facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. Eventually, space will run out and staff members will euthanize the animals because of a common cold or a small cough.

So why should we build animal shelters for Animal Care and Control Center (AC&C)? We must take small steps to save animals. By having additional shelters, we’ll save more animals from being euthanized in crowded facilities.

In addition, AC&C should be a separate organization from Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Since AC&C is contracted by the DOH, majority of its income comes from DOH. It simply does not make a sense that a Department of Health is funding an animal care organization. After all, the DOH is more concerned with human-related issues such as diabetes, arthritis, heart diseases, and cancers than overcrowded and filthy animal shelters. Because of this, AC&C’s budget continues to diminish annually. Not only does the DOH controls majority of AC&C’s budget, but also the fact that the DOH and the mayor choose the executives directors of AC&C. For the most part, these executive officers do not care about animals. They are more concern with pleasing the mayor.

Please help animals suffocating in AC&C by signing this petition to separate the AC&C from the DOH and demand animal shelters to be built in Queens and Bronx.

Letter to

NYC City Council, NYC Dept of Heath, NYC Animal Care & Control

I just signed the following petition addressed to: NYC City Council, NYC Dept of Heath, NYC Animal Care & Control.

----------------Few months ago, the City Council passed Intro. 655, which states that animal shelters will be given additional funding for the next several years. Even though Intro. 655 was passed, there is still more to add on the bill.

I am writing to ask for more funding to build additional animal shelters in Queens and Bronx. While it's great that staff members are working for longer hours to ensure more animals being adopted, this barely relieves the overcrowded state in animal shelter. Queens and Bronx are huge boroughs. When there is no more room in the animal shelter in Queens and Bronx, unwanted animals might be shipped to adoption facilities in the other boroughs, which is likely to be crowded as well. Obviously, if space is crowded, conditions are likely to be filthy and animals are likely to be infected by diseases.

In addition, I will also like to suggest that the AC&C should form a completely independent organization separate from the Department of Health. This is because the DOH is more concerned with human-related issues such as diabetes, arthritis, and heart diseases. It simply seems illogical that a Department of Health for humans is funding the majority of the income to an animal care center. As a result, AC&C’s budget continues to diminish annually. And when budget is diminishing, so does the quality of animal life as well.

I understand that lawmakers make difficult decisions on the city budget, but I believe that additional animal shelters will benefit the community as a whole. I also urge that you’ll separate AC&C from the DOH. I encourage you to follow my advice for the welfare of the animals and the community.